1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to voltage regulators, and more specifically to a linear voltage regulator design for generating sub-reference output voltages.
2. Related Art
Linear voltage regulators generally refer to voltage regulators that receive an unregulated power source as input and provide a regulated output voltage, the regulation being achieved by controlling, using feedback techniques, the ON-resistance of a pass-device (such as a pass transistor) operated in its linear or saturation region of operation, depending on the type of the pass-device (e.g., whether a bipolar junction transistor or MOS transistor). A desired value of the regulated output voltage is typically set by comparing a fraction of the output voltage with a reference voltage, and adjusting the ON-resistance of the pass-device based on the difference of the output voltage and the reference voltage.
It is often desirable to use a linear voltage regulator to provide a sub-reference output voltage, i.e., an output voltage less than the reference voltage used in the regulator. Some prior techniques for generating such sub-reference output voltages are associated with drawbacks such as larger area for implementation, greater noise associated with the regulated output voltage, etc.